GOD COMMANDS GENEROSITY BECAUSE HE VALUES GENEROSITY.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Luke 21:1-4.
Verse of the Day: “God loves the person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” (2 Corinthians 9:7-8).
Laura was visiting the nursing home where her grandmother lived. One of the patients suddenly complimented Laura on the fresh flower pinned to her dress.
“It’s beautiful,” the woman said.
“Well, then …” (Laura paused to pull the pin out of her dress) “I want you to have it!” She started to pin the flower on the woman’s dress. The woman started to protest, but Laura insisted and finally won the friendly argument. As Laura turned toward her grandmother’s room, the old woman sat, smiling, and stroking the flower as if it were made of gold.
“That’s the third time I’ve seen you do that,” said one of the nurses, who had come up behind Laura as she left the old woman. “What’s going on?”
Laura shrugged and looked embarrassed. “Oh, it’s no big deal. I wore a corsage that my dad gave me when I came to visit Grandma on Easter, and Grandma’s friends couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful it was. So I gave it to one of them. I wear a flower every time I come, now, ’cause it’s so much fun to see somebody’s face when I give it away, you know.”
“But you have to pay for those flowers, right?” the nurse said.
“Well, yeah, but it’s only a few dollars at the most, and I don’t come every day.”
The nurse shook her head in amazement. “You’re a saint,” she said.
Laura rolled her eyes. “My grandma’s the saint, not me. She taught me that giving things to other people can be a lot of fun. She says that when we give to others, we please at least three people.”
“Three people?” the nurse echoed.
Laura nodded and raised one finger in the air. “We please the person we give to,” she said, then raised a second finger. “And we please ourselves too. I think I get more fun out of giving those silly flowers away than any of the people I give them to.”
“You said three people,” the nurse reminded her.
“Oh yeah,” Laura said. She raised a third finger in the air. “The third person we please is God. He likes it when we’re generous to each other, because he really likes generosity. Grandma says it’s something he values, you know, like we value gold.”
“Or flowers,” the nurse said.
TO DISCUSS: God commands us to be generous because he values generosity. Do you value generosity? If so, how do you show that you value generosity? How can you show that you value generosity?
TO PRAY: “God, when we don’t have any material possessions to give away, help us to be generous with our time, our talents, and our affection for others.”
